


Bright Lights

by ikknowplaces



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Bliss, F/F, Family Fluff, Hanukkah, Intense Yearning, Jewish Holidays, Kissing, Snow, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, amaya being cute, giving spoilers to my own au, this is like sarai finds out part 26
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27898453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikknowplaces/pseuds/ikknowplaces
Summary: This isn't your regular Christmas story. This is a Hanukkah story.In which Amaya and Janai celebrate Hanukkah at Sarai and Harrow's house
Relationships: Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Harrow/Sarai (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 37





	Bright Lights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acielsa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acielsa/gifts).



> heyy everyonee i am back with yet another fic. first of all, last week i celebrated a whole year since i started writing for janaya and in that year i wrote over more than 100k words, which is something i never thought was possible, so thank you all for your support, kudos, comments and bookmarks, i could not have done it without you all!
> 
> and secondly, this is a commission to my lovely friend theo, who has been so supportive and wonderful to me, always but especially lately. so i wanna thank them for this opportunity, for this wonderful idea, and most of all to trust me to write this well for them. i'm really grateful for our friendship, and i'm honored by this opportunity. so thank you so much theo! ♥
> 
> i tried not to include too many "jewish" terms so you wouldn't need to open up google in the middle of reading, most of the things here are names of holidays. if you wanna support my works you can check out [this page](https://queenjanaikofi.carrd.co/#)!
> 
> i hope you'll enjoy this!

* * *

It was nearly midday when they got to Sarai and Harrow's apartment. Light snow fell, masking the street in a thin layer of white, and made Janai extremely tense as Amaya drove. She was nearly at the edge of her seat as soft flakes fell on the windshield like little decorations, a heartbeat away from telling Amaya to be careful for the second time. 

Thankfully, they entered the parking lot of the building after a ten-minute drive, devoid of any injuries. Janai gazed up at the building, smooth and brown-colored, spotted with windows. It was quite tall- fifteen floors, if she recalled correctly- and wide as well. For some reason, a part of her always felt as if she was visiting it for the first time. Amaya took her hand, and led her in away from the cold.

As the elevator took them up, Janai rubbed her gloved hands together, and brought them close to breathe some hot hair on them. Her cheeks were still cold from the way to the lobby from the car, and her hair fell down her shoulders above the coat. Amaya, seeing her girlfriend so bothered by the cold, glanced at her, laughing, and kissed her hand.

It happened a month ago too.

_Janai had sat on their couch wrapped with the blanket, covering from neck to toes. She nuzzled her face against the fabric, and Amaya laid a hand on her head._

_"Haven't gotten used to it yet?" Amaya had looked down at her with a smile, holding a cup of coffee, and Janai lowered her head again, shaking it._

Now, Amaya knocked on her sister's door. Every year, she'd celebrate the first day of Hanukkah with her family, but it has been so long since she stayed over for the night. She was even more excited, because it was Janai's first time celebrating this holiday, and with her most of all.

_"We always light the candles for the first time together, it's a tradition," she had told Janai a few days ago. "I haven't seen the kids in a while now, and Sarai offered for both of us to stay over. But you don't have to come if you don't want to."_

_"Of course I want to come," Janai had leaned over, squeezing Amaya's hand before she began to sign again. She and Sarai might have started on a rough path that lasted for only a few minutes, but Janai had learned a lot from her. "Besides, I think I figured out your guys' holidays._ They didn't kill us, hooray, let's eat, _right?"_

_Amaya had giggled, trying not to spit her tea out. "Yes, that's accurate."_

_"I haven't celebrated Hanukkah before, is it the last one?" She had tilted her head, recalling the many holidays Amaya had introduced her to so far._

_"I think so," Amaya had set her glass down. Unfortunately for Janai, or maybe it had benefitted her for later one, the first official holiday she had celebrated with Amaya was Purim, which resulted in Sarai going crazy over her favorite pastry/holiday treat._

_"I liked Rosh Hashana," Janai had said, contemplating on the holidays in her head. "The bread dipped in sugar was tasty. Yom Kippur... wasn't so pleasant."_

_Amaya shrugged. "You lived through Passover, there's nothing worse than that."_

The door opened to show Sarai, and Amaya felt as if she was home again, even though it wasn't their childhood home. "Hey!" Sarai opened her arms with a bright smile, and Amaya hugged her sister. She smelled of something sweet, and her hair was braided as usual. 

She hugged Janai too, who thanked her for the invitation. It always made Amaya happy, to see how at ease Janai has become with her family. 

"How was your drive?" She asked, as if there was a blizzard happening outside instead of mild snow. Amaya didn't expect anything else. Her braid fell past her shoulder, and an apron was tied around her waist.

"Good," Amaya and Janai both lowered a hand from their chin, and smiled at each other after the sign. Janai unwrapped the scarf from around her neck, and unzipped her coat as well.

"I'll get the kids," Sarai said, and turned around. "Callum, Ezran, come over here!"

Amaya and Janai took their shoes off, and the sound of fast footsteps came from further into the house. The boys were still in their pajamas, and by the time Callum was at his doorway, Ezran crossed half of the living room.

"Aunt Amaya!" He ran, crashing into Amaya in a hug. Amaya laughed, swayed by the force of the impact, and lifted her nephew high in the air, ruffling his head. 

Janai watched as Callum stepped to her, and hugged him as well. He was so much shorter than her, and quieter than his brother, Janai nearly felt awkward. But Callum liked her, and she liked him too. They were family.

Ezran embraced her tight as well, and Janai bent over to hug him properly. He had been so nice to her when they first met- Ezran seemed to be nice to _any_ person he met- but he had become even more fond of Janai after she gifted him a huge plastic zoo model, beautifully detailed, and with dozens of animals. For Callum, she got a new sketchbook, and a set of pencil colors.

"Hey, kid," she patted Ezran's head. "Missed us?" He nodded.

Callum looked at them both. "I'm so happy to see you," he said.

Before either of them could answer, Sarai walked behind her sons and threw her arms over their shoulders. "Take their bags to the guest room, please," she said, and Amaya and Janai handed their bags over. Luckily, their house had a spare room, though both of them were used to sleeping under not-so-pleasant conditions.

They followed Sarai into the kitchen, bright white cabinets high on the walls, and an island near the fridge. Dough rested on the counter, rolled up and covered flour. Sarai reached to take out two glasses, and poured water into them from the pitcher, left outside.

"I'm almost done with the dough," she signed before she turned around, pressing her hands into the ball to flatten it. Janai handed Amaya her glasses, watching Sarai squeeze and roll and fold the dough again. "It just needs to-"

"Hello, you two!" A loud voice came from behind them, and Amaya and Janai turned around to see Harrow emerging from the hall, his hands spread and a big grin on his face.

 _Oh no,_ Amaya thought. Harrow was particularly festive around the holidays, but this one was his favorite. Janai hasn't experienced her brother in law in all of his proud, _my-wife-is-Jewish-so-I-celebrate-the-holidays_ state. It was fine. Janai survived Passover. She survived Passover.

Amaya set her glass down and went to hug her brother in law, the only person in their family who towered over her. Harrow's embrace was soft, and his eyes as bright as his wife's. 

"Janai," Harrow stepped to her, the golden clasps around his locs shining, and they hugged. "So good to have you here."

"Thank you," Janai said, warmth rushing to her cheeks.

Still working on the counter, Sarai coughed, and turned around halfway to give her husband a smile, playfulness gleaming in her eyes. Her fingers were sunk in the dough, clinging to her like paste.

"My beautiful wife," Harrow announced, and gave her a gentle kiss. 

Sarai's eyes went up and down her husband's figure, gazing at his clothes. "You look handsome," she leaned her cheek against his shoulder, and kisses him again.

Amaya, unable to hold herself much longer, snapped her fingers to gain Harrow's attention. "You let her do this?" Her signed were sharp and pointed, and she gestured at the counter afterward.

Harrow laughed. "She promised it wouldn't be like last year."

"What happened last year?" Janai took the glass from Amaya and set it down along with her own, wanting to hear the story.

Amaya shifted to her and inched closer, as if sharing a big secret with her beloved girlfriend. It was meant to embarrass Sarai, so it was good. "We usually buy some sufganiyot to eat when lighting the candles for the first time, but last year Sarai said she'd make some. We nearly had to call the firefighters. I've never seen anyone ruin dough so bad."

"But I'm doing so well now!" Sarai shifted enough for Amaya to read her lips, and gathered the dough into a bowl. "It should be ready just in time for the candles. And you-" she pointed at Harrow, not quite jamming her finger at his chest, as it was still covered in flour, "You can fry them if you want to."

"Wonderful," Harrow chuckled and wrapped his hand around her finger, which Sarai withdrew quickly afterward.

Inside the guest room, Janai opened their bags on the neatly covered bed. The room was decorated plainly, with a white dresser in front of the bed, identical nightstands, and even a small desk. Perhaps the most unique and beautiful thing in the room was the window, wide and hidden behind delicate lace curtains, in pale blue. Janai could see the grey sky from where she was standing.

She handed Amaya their pajamas to place inside the closet, until night time, and Amaya joined her on the bed, taking out some more of the things they brought.

Janai's phone buzzed just when she took out her toothbrush. Her brother's name was displayed on the screen, his message reading "Tell Amaya I said happy Hanukkah!". There was a photo of him biting on a sufganiya filled with jelly, and after it: "It's okay that I'm eating this, right?"

Janai laughed and leaned to show Amaya the message when she stared at her with wonder. "Ori says hi," she told her, and Amaya's eyes lit up at the message.

"Tell him thank you, and that it's okay. Also, cute scarf." 

Khessa had texted her too, just before they left the house, writing an equally well-intentioned message yet with... some of Khessa's taste. "I think there's a holiday going on, one of Amaya's," the message said. "Certainly not ours. If that's the case, wish her a happy holiday on my behalf. I have some spare time in the evening if you would like to talk."

At that, they had laughed for a much longer time. "At least she's trying," Amaya had said, again, with best of intentions, and kissed Janai's forehead. They sent her a short video of saying and signing "Thank you, sis," and "Thank you, Khessa," respectively, leaning against each other more than necessary, because those kinds of things annoyed Khessa like nothing else.

**━━━━━━━━**

Amaya left Janai in the livingroom with Sarai, and went to the balcony to spend some time with Harrow. The air was cold enough to make her breathing visible, a little cloud of fog quickly disappearing. Harrow was hunched over the railing, a cup emitting steam between his hands, while another rested on the railing.

Amaya had an unexplained affection towards Harrow, especially around the holidays. Maybe it was because of how suspicious she was of him when they first met, as she was with Sarai's first husband, and how much she trusted him now. Maybe because of how he embraced their traditions, their religion, and never limited Sarai from expressing either. Maybe it was because of how enthusiastic he was about them as well.

The point was, Harrow was a good man, and a better husband, and Sarai adored him the way he adored their sons, and Amaya loved him with all of her heart. 

They talked about the weather first as soft flakes fell around them, then about the station, and about how they should take a vacation once it gets warmer. Amaya hadn't thought of a vacation in god knows how long, but she agreed. It would be nice. 

Just when she thought about whether if Janai would take her to Lux Aurea, or maybe not Lux Aurea, somewhere warm, Harrow turned to her. "So, you and Janai," he began. Amaya knew where it was going. "It's quite serious, isn't it?"

Amaya shrugged, then nodded, looking at the falling snow. "I guess?" She closed her hand, going from one side of her face to the other.

"You haven't thought of the future?" Harrow took a sip of his tea.

 _A wedding, you mean._ "Not really." Warmness spread across her cheeks, and Amaya hated that it did. "I like where we are. I don't want to rush anything." It was already a miracle Janai had agreed to move in with her, Amaya would never forget how happy she was when she said yes, and still found it hard to believe she got to fall asleep and wake up by her side every day. There was a future, yes, but Amaya wasn't ready to get married yet, and neither was Janai. 

Harrow must have noticed how she reddened, amplified by the cold, because he laughed. "She's a keeper, Amaya," he said, and before she could reply, he put his hand on her back. "Come on, let's go inside."

Meanwhile, Sarai and Janai were chatting in the living room. The fire cracked inside the hearth and the television playing some show they didn't pay attention to, sipping on a kind of tea Janai taught Sarai how to make. Amaya and Harrow left for the balcony, something that didn't surprise Janai anymore. Amaya had told her in the past how much she liked talking with Harrow.

Janai, too, has gotten comfortable with Amaya's family, though she always wished to have her by her side. 

Callum came to stand by her side, holding his sketchbook. It had a strong leather binding, and was as thick as one of her economy books. Sarai had told her it was one of the first presents Harrow had gotten Callum after they got married, and years after, it still lasted. "Janai, can I show you some drawings I did with the pencils you got me?" He asked, holding the book to his chest.

Janai grinned. Callum was such a soft-spoken boy, and if truth was to be told, she hadn't figured out how to act around the kids just yet, so every approach from them was a relief. "Of course," she moved to the side to make room for Callum to sit. 

He opened the book on his lap and flipped through the pages until the black pencil turned into vibrant colors. Janai was never good at art, though Ori was, and her eyes widened at the beautiful drawings: a clear spot inside a dense forest, so detailed she could see each leaf; stone domes that glowed in bright cyan, and a full moon hanging in a dark sky. A calm beach gleaming in the sun, the waves getting darker as they reached the sand, turning into foam. 

"These are incredible, Callum," she raised her head to look at him. She knew Callum was a gifted artist, but she hadn't imagined how much. The lines were so delicate and accurate, and the colors blended perfectly.

"Thank you," he smiled, blushing. "I worked really hard on them." He turned another page, probably wanting to show another drawing he made with the colored pencils, but there was a drawing of a girl instead, the side of her face shown as she gazed into the horizon. Janai caught a little braid framing her face before Callum slammed the book shut. "Well, that's all for now!" He hurried to get up and squeeze past the sofa, his voice higher than before. "Thank you for looking!"

They both watched him as he left for his room and closed the door behind him.

Janai turned to Sarai, who was in the same half-frozen state of hers, as the tension disappeared from the air. "He has a girlfriend?" She asked.

Sarai nodded, puffing her cheeks as she let out a breath. "Yeah."

"How do you handle it?" A smirk rose on the corner of her lips as she lifted her cup of tea from the table.

"I try not to."

A gust of wind emerged from behind, and Harrow walked in, rubbing his hands together to relieve them from the cold. Amaya was behind him, quickly closing the sliding door. Her cheeks were tinted with pink, and her grey scarf hung loosely around her neck. She smiled at Janai when their eyes met.

"Good talk?" Janai tapped her chin twice, four fingers spread.

Amaya nodded, and leaned to give her a kiss that said "I missed you."

**━━━━━━━━**

As every year, Amaya stood back as the candles were lit, only that this year, Sarai insisted she deserved to be the first to light them, as an act of gratitude for the successful sufganiyot she made, which were cooling on the counter. Harrow took her place to film, and Amaya stood behind with Janai, watching her sister smiling as she said the blessing. She lit the first candle in her hand, and the second candle that was placed on the right side of the hanukkiah with it. Then, she set the first candle on the middle spot, shining higher than the other one. The kids were grinning by her side, and Sarai hugged them after the prayer was done, kissing the top of their heads.

She peeked at Janai, expecting some level of surprise or wonder, but there was only kindness in her eyes as she watched the three of them, and Harrow who stopped filming. Sarai turned to her, and she laughed, and Amaya could only make out one word- _good-_ as she was too caught up in her face, and she realized: Janai has seen it all. There were no more surprises for her. She has seen it _all._

She snapped out of it when Harrow began to clap, the movement repeating in the corner of her eye. They began to sing a song, probably the one about driving out the darkness, Amaya couldn't really make up the words because of how Sarai and the kids were spinning around. She stood there, still a little bit stunned, and Sarai glanced at her as she sang, with a small smirk that suggested she saw how she stared at Janai like a deer caught in the headlights, and winked at her too.

Janai, on her side, withdrew her arm, and began clapping as well, occasionally spinning too. She took both of Amaya's hands and swayed them slowly from side to side before she got closer to her. "I don't know the words," she whispered, her brows coming together in concern.

Amaya inclined her head, failing to contain a smile. "It's okay," she signed, and brought Janai's hand to her lips.

**━━━━━━━━**

They returned to the couch afterwards, well into the night. The kids went to bed, as well as Sarai and Harrow, because apparently 10 P.M was considered as _very late_ now. Before she bid them goodnight, Sarai, of course, asked them if they had everything they needed, which they did. And so they were left on the couch, with only a small light coming from the doorway, and the television playing on a low volume, making Janai irritated whenever there were no subtitles on.

"It was really nice today," she turned to Amaya, for once speaking only with her hands and not with her voice, as not to wake up the kids. "Those sufganiyot are _amazing,_ " she swept a hand across her face.

"Told you," Amaya shifted closer to her, the blanket covering them moving with her. They, minus Janai, had jumped on the plate after the singing was done, hungry to actually eat what they've been waiting for for weeks, instead of just smell it from the bakery. Sarai shouted at them to take a napkin so the sugar powder wouldn't fall on the floor in clouds of white flakes. Amaya let her head fall back at the first bite, her mouth being filled with criminally deep-fried dough that was sadly delicious, sugar, and the jam inside. She opened her eyes to see Janai staring at her, baffled by her beloved's eagerness to eat something that was so _unhealthy_ . After some convincing with very strong arguments like _"you have to try it, it's so good."_ and _"It's a good deed, God said so,"_ Janai took a bite, and ended up taking one for herself.

"So," Janai tilted her head, dragging her hand making the shape of an O, as to draw out the words. "Do you guys have an equivalent to the mistletoe on Hanukkah?"

Amaya nearly laughed. "No, we don't. Hanukkah is a much older tradition than Christmas, anyway."

Janai twirled one of her locs around her finger, her eyes fixed on Amaya. Their legs met under the blanket, just enough for her to be aware of it. "So you don't have a decoration to kiss under?"

"I mean, do you need a decoration to kiss under?" She asked her in return. "I can hold the Hanukkiah above us if you'd like, but I wouldn't recommend that because it's quite heavy, and on fire."

"But if you were to kiss beside a Hanukkiah, you could say that it serves as something to be kissed by, right?" Janai went on, surprisingly passionate about the subject.

Amaya stared at her. She knew what this was about. She knew what the _about_ was on the first date at her house, with candles in every room. "Janai. Do you want to kiss by the fire?"

"It's just so pretty by the window, okay?" She whispered this time, and crossed her hands. "And it's snowing too."

Amaya was lost, because she was truly her world. She took her hands and led her to the kitchen, where the Hanukkiah was resting by the window, letting light into the world. The candles have shortened, and drops of melted wax painted the surface beneath them. 

Janai smiled at her as the light shined between them, a little bit shy. The two flames flickered on her face, and the silent house reminded Amaya how much she liked when it was just the two of them alone, completely alone. "Happy Hanukkah, sweetie," she said. "I love you."

Amaya pressed her forehead to hers, asking for the millionth time what has she done to deserve her. Janai cupped her cheek, her fingers tracing her skin gently, as Amaya's hands were holding her back. "I love you too," she signed, and kissed her, and the candles shined on them like a single beacon in the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!  
> [my tumblr](https://queenjanai.tumblr.com/)


End file.
